The Importance of Outdoor Activity for Kids & How You Can Encourage It

As a parent, it’s your job to introduce your children to the world and make it clear to them which things are important and worth their time. You have more impact on them than you realise, and you can influence their actions for the better if you choose to. That’s what you should be looking to do with regards to outdoor activity and how important it is for your kids.

Before you can encourage your kids to spend more time being active outside, you need to understand why this is so important to their development and growth at this key age. Below you will find out all of the things that make outdoor activity important and how you can encourage your kids to be more active than they currently are.

Exploring and Risk-Taking

When your kids spend more time outside, they will learn to explore and take risks away from the security of the home setting. As a parent, that might sound a little scary to you, but it’s a really vital part of your child’s development. If you want your children to grow into well-rounded adults later in life, you have to encourage them to explore and leave their comfort zone more often than they otherwise would.

Activity for Health

All parents worry about the health and wellbeing of their children. This is something you should be paying attention to as well. If you can persuade and encourage your children to spend more time outside, they will become healthier and fitter. Regular cardio exercise is essential to their health and it’s not something you should ignore for a second longer because childhood obesity is becoming a real problem today.

Enjoying and Appreciating the Outdoors

Simply appreciating and enjoying the great outdoors is important in itself, and it’s something every parent should look to encourage. The natural world is precious to us and there is enough people in the world who don’t understand or appreciate it; don’t allow your kids to grow into people with that negative kind of attitude too. If they spend more time outdoor and have fun doing so, they’ll appreciate everything the great outdoors have to offer.

Learning About the Planet

Another thing that comes with spending more time outdoors and taking more of an interest in nature is learning about the planet. If they’re willing to explore locations and see more of the world, they will inevitable learn more about it, and that’s something you should be looking to inspire in them. The wider their range of knowledge is, the stronger their educational attainment is likely to be. Become their guide and introduce them to all kinds of new things.

Go on Family Trips to Various Interesting Locations

Spending time outdoor is something that you should always try to do as a family because it tends to make it more fun. You have to be willing to lead by example as a parent if you want your kids to be more active outdoors. You could take camping trips together if you want to or you could take big family trips to parts of the world your kids have never seen before. It will really broaden their horizons.

Find Fun Ways to be Active

Spending time outdoors is something that should be fun and interesting; it should be something your kids look forward to and enjoy regularly. Don’t just stick to the basic fun and games that all kids are familiar with because that will limit the interest your kids have in outdoor activity. Instead, you need to come up with fun and new activities that will hold your kids’ interest. Using skates, bikes and unusual sporting equipment should all be considered. It will make outdoor activity far more fun.

Don’t Make it a Chore

If your kids feel like getting active and spending time outside is nothing but a chore that distracts them from the things they’d rather be doing inside, they’ll never develop that love of activity and nature. That’s what you need to avoid so make sure you don’t force your child to do things or make it a routine thing that they’re expected to do. The focus should be on trying new things and enjoying time outdoors together as a family or with friends.

The sooner you start emphasising the importance of outdoor activity to your children, the sooner you’ll see positive results for them. Do what you can to make activity fun and don’t put too much pressure on them to do certain things because that’s a strategy that rarely works.

**Collaborative post**

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About Us

Hi, I'm Clare (Emmy's Mummy). I live in Essex with my husband Paul, Daughter Emmy (born February 2010) and Son Harry (born October 2012), our dog Barney.
I'm a 30-something WAHM and former Nanny, sharing life's adventures and misadventures
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